Facing large domestic demand for rice and after a relatively low output last year the government of India dropped its rice import duty. The so called tax moratorium introduced in October 2009 includes temporary scrapping of the 70% import duty on rice. The measure will remain in place until September 2010, that is until the end of the 2009/2010 marketing year.

India is a net exporter of rice, but in the marketing year 2009/2010 a decline in rice output from 15 to 17 million tonne is expected. In 2008/09 output reached 99.2 million tonnes, a record amount. According to the UN Comtrade database, in the year prior to the measure no country exported rice to India with a trade value over the GTA threshold of USD 1 million.